Speeches

Jun022009

Madam Speaker, in 1992, I had the opportunity to go to Tiananmen Square. I was there by myself, but the square was packed. Once again, it was packed with a lot of people, with a lot of students. I was well-received by those students. They wanted to talk to me. They were very friendly, and they were friendly to me for the sole reason that I was an American. Otherwise, they did not know me at all.

While talking to some of the students who weren't afraid to talk to me because of the authorities that were nearby, one of them whispered to me in perfect English that we want what you have in America. Of course, he was speaking of that word ``liberty.'' Down in the soul of every person on Earth, I believe, is that spirit that the good Lord gives us for freedom. I think we are made that way. We are made that way in this country, but we are made that way throughout the world, and those students in China are made that way as well for they seek and hope to obtain the word "liberty."

The rulers in China need to release the Tiananmen Square students. China should show the world that they are no longer going to continue to murder their own people who peaceably disagree with the government.

In Beijing, not only is there Tiananmen Square, but also nearby is the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City got its name because it was a walled fortress where the emperors for thousands of years would live and rule the massive country of China, but they forbade the people to come into the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City still exists in a mentality way in China for the City of Beijing still forbids its own people the freedom to speak as they wish, the freedom to assemble, and it forbids the freedom of the people to disagree with their government in a peaceful way.

In the name of liberty and in the name of freedom in which we believe, we have an obligation here in the United States to speak out against the acts of terror that the Chinese Government imposes on their own people. We need to remember the dark nights of June 1989. We need to light a candle to bring openness and transparency to the acts that the Chinese Government committed on its own students.